BARCELONA // Huawei will launch the next version of its P series smartphone alongside a "female version" of the Huawei Watch by the end of June, as it seeks to make inroads into the region's lucrative premium device segment.
Ashraf Fawakherji, Huawei’s vice president for the Middle East, said that the new devices, together with a mid-range smartphone with a large battery capacity, will be unveiled in April and go on sale in the Middle East by the end of the second quarter.
Huawei is viewed as a budget and mid-range device maker, but Mr Fawakherji insisted that it was now being taken seriously as a maker of premium devices.
“Sales of the Mate 7 in the Middle East are the highest in the world outside of China and so far we’re getting the same positive response from the Mate 8,” he said.
“In three years we’ve achieved what has taken other brands 10 years. We think we’re on the right track,” he added.
The company has increased its marketing spending in the region in an attempt to target high-end consumers, sponsoring next month’s Arab Fashion Week in Dubai, building on its marketing presence at sports and music events. Huawei’s device shipments across the Middle East grew by 44 per cent during the past year, with Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait the company’s largest markets in the region.
Thanks to Huawei’s success in the budget and mid-range segment it has become the third largest smartphone manufacturer in the world behind Samsung and Apple, with a global market share of 8.1 per cent at the end of last year, according to the industry analysts IDC. “They’ve come up with the right products, the right price point, with an excellent marketing campaign and amazing channel distribution and incentives,” said Nabila Popal, a research director at IDC in Dubai.
Mr Fawakherji dismissed the threat from smaller budget manufacturers, who have recently eaten into Huawei’s market share. “Customers may buy these phones but they’ll only do it one time, because there’s a big issue with quality,” he said.
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
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Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
Racecard
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1. Christopher Froome (GBR/Sky) 68hr 18min 36sec,
2. Fabio Aru (ITA/AST) at 0:18.
3. Romain Bardet (FRA/ALM) 0:23.
4. Rigoberto Uran (COL/CAN) 0:29.
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Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
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